Hell and High Water by Tanya Landman: A fast and furious tale of adventure on the high seas

 

 

 

 

Synopsis

In a wicked world, can an honest man survive?

1752. Devon. England.

When his father is arrested and transported to the Colonies, Caleb is left alone. After a desperate journey in search of an aunt he's never met he receives a strange, cold welcome.

Then a body washes up on the nearby beach and Caleb is caught up in a terrifying net of lies and intrigue. Soon he and his new family are in mortal danger.

 

Review by Rhian Ivory

I read Buffalo Solider on holiday this summer (once I’d got it back off my husband) and found myself talking about it, in fact I couldn’t shut up about it. My mum ordered it the next day and had finished it by the weekend and the one thing we all kept coming back to was THAT VOICE. Tanya Landman writes with such conviction that it feels as if someone is sitting next to you whispering their story into your ear so when Hell and High Water landed on my door mat I was excited but also nervous. Would I have the same intimate reading experience with this book as I’d had with Buffalo Solider? Surely she couldn’t pull it off again and would I really care as much about Caleb in Hell and High Water as I did about Charlie in Buffalo Solider? Reader, she did pull it off and I cared just as much, let me tell you why.

The opening scene features a Punch and Judy show which is described in such detail you feel as if you are part of the audience, watching the show build with the same sense of anticipation as the crowd. It is clear that Landman has seen a show or two in her time because she evokes the scene in a skilful and detailed manner. But this isn’t to be a straightforward story about a father and son touring the county, polishing their puppets and handing around the cap for coins because disaster soon strikes when Caleb’s father is wrongly accused of theft. Caleb is left alone in the world without his guide, his best friend and his companion to not only show him the ropes of the trade but also take care of him in a world which is prejudiced against a boy of mixed race.

Caleb knows of one person who may help him, his father’s sister who is a maid in North Devon. Caleb is forced to find his way alone to his aunt’s house, knock at her door and place himself in a vulnerable position. His character is the backbone of the book and the reader is with him every step of the way as he fights injustice, mistrust and judgement all based on the colour of his skin. He tries his best to find work locally but isn’t given much of chance. Landman plays with gender and convention cleverly by giving Caleb the traditionally viewed feminine skills of a seamstress and Lettie (his aunt’s stepdaughter) the more masculine traits of a seaman. Together they make the perfect pair but get off to quite a bad start.

What stayed with me long after I finished the novel is the burning sense of injustice, the lack of equality for Caleb and Lettie and the class system is once again examined under Landman’s microscopic lens exposing the differences between the rich and the poor, the corruption that power can bring and the lack of agency Caleb and Lettie suffer from.

But happily there’s hope, phew!  The hope comes from Caleb and Letty’s strength of character, intelligence, bravery and overriding sense of justice all neatly tied up in a tender and delicate love story binding the themes together throughout this fast and furious tale of adventure on the high seas.

About the author

Tanya studied for a degree in English Literature at Liverpool University before working in a bookshop, an arts centre and a zoo. Since 1992 Tanya has been part of Storybox Theatre working as a writer, administrator and performer - a job which has taken her to festivals all over the world. She lives with her husband, Rod Burnett, and two sons, Isaac and Jack, in Devon.
Tanya had no ambition to write until Waking Merlin popped into her head a few years ago; but now she can't seem to stop writing! She says it's the best job ever - being allowed to spend hours staring into space, daydreaming...
Follow Tanya Landman on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/tanya.landman.7
and twitter @tanya_landman 
Tanya's Carnegie speech

About the reviewer

Rhian was born in Swansea but moved to the Brecon Beacons where she went to school until 11. She then moved all the way across the border to Hereford. She returned to Wales to study English Literature at Aberystwyth. She trained as a Drama and English teacher and wrote her first novel during her first few years in teaching.

 She got her first publishing deal at 26 and went on to write three more novels for Bloomsbury. She took a break to have three children and during this time taught Creative Writing and also a Children’s Literature course for the Open University. 

 

The Boy who drew the Future is her fifth novel, she’s finished writing her sixth and is halfway through her seventh.

 

She is a National Trust Writer in Residence, a Patron of Reading and  a WoMentor. 

 

You can follow Rhian on Twitter and on Facebook.

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Out of the Dark, by Adele Geras. Reviewed by Saviour Pirotta

Publisher: Quercus
Publication Year: 2015
ISBN: 978-1784291259

I have to admit that I am a big fan of Adele Geras' work. My Grandmother's Stories and Voyage are wonderful reads that prove diversity and 'issue' books can be just as entertaining as fantasy or adventure. Troy and Ithaka are superb YA novels that stay true to the essence and feel of the ancient world but still manage to be relevant to twenty first century readers.

I have yet to tackle her full length adult novels so Out of the Dark, a short novella in the QuickReads 2015 series, was a perfect introduction to this side of her work . It is the story of Rob Stone, a young Londonder who has it all: matinee idol looks, a gorgeous girlfriend and a job in a fashionable store where he is much admired by the ladies.  World War I robs him of all these. He returns from the battlefields with a burnt face that has to be hidden behind a mask, a girlfriend who very quickly becomes an ex and no job. He does not come home alone. With him comes the ghost of his dead captain, whose Bible and family photograph, Rob has lifted from his pack.

As the young man tries to rebuild his life, and to track down the captain's family, he finds frequent refuge in the darkness of the cinema. I can't say much more without spoiling the ending but let me assure you that this if a first rate read. It's part ghost story, part historical drama. I highly recommended it.

Follow me on twitter @spirotta
Like me on facebook https://www.facebook.com/spirotta
Website http://www.spirotta.com




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The House of Eyes, by Patricia Elliott: reviewed by Sue Purkiss

There are quite a few books about where children turn detective - it's been a popular genre for a long time: would Emil Kastner's Emil and the Detectives be one of the earliest? More recently, Joan Lennon has brought out the Slightly Jones mysteries, and Elen Cadecott the Marsh Road mysteries - both great fun.

Now here's Patricia Elliott with a series set in the early 1900s, and a very determined heroine called Connie Carew. Connie, an orphan, lives with her two aunts, Sylvie and Dorothea. The latter has a very unpleasant husband named Mr Thurston, who wears Macassar oil on his hair and has creaky corsets. (How could he possibly be nice when he commits two such crimes against good taste?)

The action kicks off when Connie and her aunts go to a seance. It is well known that the unfortunate Dorothea lost her first husband, Mr Fairbanks, not long after their marriage; and that her two year old daughter, Ida, was kidnapped and has never been seen since. So Dorothea is both shocked and excited when the medium announces that at last, after fifteen years, Ida is coming home - and produces an apparition which purports to be this same Ida.

Soon after this a beautiful girl does indeed appear at the house, declaring that she comes from an orphanage, that she's seeking a job as a maid - and that her name is Ida Brown. Aunt Dorothea is instantly certain that this must be her long-lost daughter - and the gold locket Ida has would seem to bear out this theory. The rest of the household seems to be convinced, but Connie is not so sure.

Connie is intelligent, resourceful and determined. Ida is beautiful, and it's not surprising that Connie is a little jealous of the way all her favourite people quickly become besotted with the newcomer. But she doesn't let this get in the way of her pursuit of the truth. Ida is almost eighteen, and on her birthday, she will inherit a large fortune. Clear-sighted Connie realises that she is the only one who is objective enough to find out the truth - but she doesn't have very much time...

The story is told in a crisp, light fashion - a reflection of Connie's own personality. There is lots of incidental detail about life in Edwardian London: the clothes, the transport, the places they lived in; even the King himself makes an appearance at one point - fortunately for Connie, who is in a tight spot at the time. The other characters are also vivid and well-drawn: eccentric Aunt Sylvie, sad Aunt Dorothea, weedy-but-nice Arthur, handsome-but-caddish Frank, and Ida herself, conflicted, confused and beautiful. There's a nice hook at the end to link into the next story, and it's very good to know that this will not be the only case for the excellent Connie Carew to solve!

Just one thing - I'm sure I'm being dense, but I couldn't quite figure out why the book was called The House of Eyes...?

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THE FEW by Cathy McSporran; reviewed by Gillian Philip

It's a little known fact (and new to me) that Winston Churchill was a bit of an occultist who consulted mediums and considered himself psychic. His belief in witches – and the rumour that he consulted them during the war – was the spark for Cathy McSporran's first Young Adult novel, The Few.

Maggie, the heroine of the story, is working with the Women's Land Army in the south of England – not just to help with the war effort, but to help her deal with her grief: Maggie and her younger brother witnessed their father's death at Dunkirk, in an incident that also uncovered the pair's latent supernatural talents. Maggie and Colin are soon recruited into a coven of young witches working for the British government; taken to London, they discover that their most dangerous enemies are a group of German teenagers with powers that mirror their own. These Gothi become even more lethal when one of their number succeeds in channelling the ancient Aryan goddess Freya.

Much of the story takes place under the (sometimes literal) shadow of the Battle of Britain, so the supernatural storyline is complemented by some thrilling air battles, as well as a touching romance between Maggie and one of the Spitfire pilots, Michal.

McSporran effectively weaves together history, real and fictional characters, and the mythologies of Northern Europe to create a spellbinding story that rarely lets up its pace. The tangled web of relationships – encompassing betrayal as well as fierce loyalty and dedication – feels real, and packs a considerable emotional punch by the conclusion. The Few is the first book in a series, and succeeds in giving the reader both a satisfying ending and an enticing hint of more adventures to come.

It can be a tough call to blend real history with mythic fantasy, but McSporran pulls it off with flair. The book itself isn't well served by its cover, but if you look beyond that you'll find a ripping fantasy that combines high-stakes world peril with emotional strength and subtlety.


The Few by Cathy McSporran; published by Freight Books RRP £8.99

www.gillianphilip.com




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Blue by Lisa Glass Reviewed by Tamsyn Murray

When Iris meets Zeke, she has no idea who he is. He's a surfer, she knows that, but isn't everyone in Newquay? And surfer boys are exactly what she's trying to avoid after the way her ex, Daniel, treated her. But Zeke doesn't seem to be anything like Daniel - he's a much better surfer, for one thing. The more Iris hangs our with Zeke, the more she likes him, until she finds out who he is: a world famous pro-surfing superstar, in Newquay to spend some time with his dad's family.

Iris tries to keep her distance but there's something about Zeke she finds irresistible, in spite of knowing he's only in town for a short while. When he suggests she enters a major surf competition to win sponsorship from a global brand, she's not sure she's good enough. Can she overcome her nerves and her reservations about Zeke to follow her heart? Or does her destiny lie closer to home?

Blue is a heady mix of sun, surf and sand (with the perfect amount of sex thrown in too). It's a perfect summer YA book, one so evocative of the Cornish surf scene that I could almost taste the salt on the wind from Fistral Beach as I read. I loved Iris and fully sympathised with her struggles to come to terms with her past while dealing with a white-hot attraction to someone who could easily break her newly-mended heart. And Zeke was adorable - not quite as perfect as his appearance and lifestyle seem to suggest. His flaws made him even more appealing and a cut above the usual YA hero. There's plenty of drama too, with a climax that had me breathless with anxiety. I can see why the film rights were snapped up - Blue is intoxicating and addictive. I immediately bought the sequel, Air, and binge-read that too. The third book, Ride, is out in 2016. Needless to say, I can't wait.

Blue is a YA title, recommended for 14+. Published by Quercus.

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The Something by Rebecca Cobb reviewed by Lynda Waterhouse

Yesterday I walked into Hatchards at St Pancras Station, walked over to the picture book section and began browsing. I kept returning to this book. The title intrigued me and the clear white spaces on the cover drew me in as did the beguiling child friendly feel of the illustrations.

Then I read the story and I couldn't put it down and have been reading it ever since. It begins with the words; ‘Underneath the cherry tree in our garden there is a little hole. We found it one day when I bounced my ball and it didn't bounce back.’

A child loses their ball down a hole and begins to wonder what is down there.  The simplest of story lines and yet so much happens. Everyone has an opinion about what is down the hole. Mum thinks it might be a doorway into a mouse’s house, someone else thinks it could be a troll down there or is it a dragon’s den. Grandma and Grandpa are more realistic in their opinions. They think it might be a mole or a badger. The important thing is that everyone has different ideas about it even the dog.

The mystery of The Something is never solved and the child simply enjoys quietly watching, waiting and imagining what lies beneath.

The text has a lovely lyrical rhythm that is a delight to read aloud. It is full of gentle touches. You are not sure if the child is a boy or a girl – they are just a child. One of the child’s friends is in a wheelchair. The weather and the tree are constantly changing. Each illustration shows what might have happened to the ball down the hole.

This is a story about looking, thinking and asking questions. It is about being happy with not knowing all the answers but keeping watch anyway in the hope that something surprising will appear.

Published by Macmillan

ISBN 978-1-4472-7181-9

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MY STORY: POMPEII by Sue Reid. Reviewed by Ann Turnbull.

My fascination with Pompeii began at school, at about the age of seven. I have a vivid memory of a film show where we sat on benches in what I now realise was probably a converted air-raid shelter. I was near the front, and was hugely impressed by the sight of red molten lava moving relentlessly down the side of the volcano. The recent British Museum exhibition will have brought this ancient catastrophe to the attention of many more children, and Sue Reid's story - exciting, well-researched and written in a lively diary form - will appeal to anyone eager to know what it would have been like to be there.

This story recreates the last fourteen months of the doomed city through the experience of a young teenage girl, Claudia. Her father gives her a spare roll of papyrus, and Claudia decides to write a diary, starting with the day in August AD 78 when earth tremors shake the city and she encounters a slave boy, a Briton, who is to become a secret friend. Claudia's concerns are typical of a girl of her age: making and breaking friendships with other girls, playing with her brothers, looking after the family's dog and trying to avoid the household tasks that her mother says she must learn if she is to become a proper Roman wife with a house and slaves to manage. Throughout Claudia's story is woven that of Aengus, the British boy, and his search for his sister and for freedom.

Sue Reid portrays well the mix of people in Pompeii. Claudia's father is a freed slave, and this gives him and his family an instinctive sympathy for other slaves. Her mother is an Egyptian, a devotee of the goddess Isis, to whom Claudia dedicates her diary. The city of Pompeii is brought to vigorous life: noisy, smelly, crowded, cosmopolitan - its inhabitants so like ourselves and yet so different with their love of gladiatorial combat and their anxious propitiation of the gods, their sacrifices, curses and good luck charms.

The sense of impending doom makes this a compelling read. The reader fears for the characters and wonders what will happen to them all. Wisely, Sue Reid does not tie up too many ends, but the story finishes in a satisfying way.

At the back there is detailed information about the eruption, how the cities were overwhelmed, the archaeological work, and photographs - including a poignant photo of plaster casts of huddled bodies beside a wall.

Scholastic, p/b. First published 2008, this edition 2015.

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The Silver Handled Knife by Frances Thomas. Review by Dawn Finch

First the blurb...
Electra is eagerly looking forward to her father Agamemnon’s triumphant return to Mycenae after the long war in Troy. But his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus have other plans – Clytemnestra cannot forgive her husband for the sacrifice of her eldest daughter Iphigenia at the start of the war, and Aegisthus covets the kingship. Instead of celebrating his return, they murder him horribly; and suddenly Mycenae isn’t a safe place for Electra or her brother Orestes. Orestes goes into exile, and Electra has to submit to a humiliating fate. When Orestes eventually returns, there is only one word on his mind – revenge!
What part will Electra play in this?

I have a great passion for ancient history and, as a result, I read a lot of fiction based in classical antiquity. Sadly far too many of these books seem only to dwell on the masculine sword-and-sandals stories and females are allocated the usual position of wife or servant. Recently there have been two noticeable novels that put girls right at the heart of the story. 

Frances Thomas’ new book, The Silver Handled Knife, is the third in her series The Girls of Troy. In this volume we share the extraordinary story of Electra, daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon as she makes her way to adulthood and independence by way of war, sacrifice and clever wrangling. She is an instantly likeable character and the Classical period is vividly brought to life. Her hardships and suffering are part of the tapestry of her life and, even though it all feels extraordinary to us, Electra regards most of the things that happen to her as an inevitable part of her life. Her struggles become ours and we bear her burdens with her and try to imagine walking in her footsteps. Thomas’ style is to absorb us in the period and yet Electra still feels like someone we know and understand today.

The other book that I have recently enjoyed that is centered on classical history is Lucy Coat’s remarkable book, Cleo. Her description of the life of young Cleopatra is a unique and colourful look into the turbulent path that she lead to achieve her place in history. It is hard writing about a person that everyone thinks they know, but Lucy Coats effortlessly introduces us to a young woman about whom I clearly knew very little. Coat’s style is to bring this to life in a modernistic fashion, but somehow this still works and allows us to see the modern parallels that Cleo shares with teens today.

I have read hundreds of books that base their plot in antiquity, but few writers manage to bring something fresh and new to the tale. I’m very glad to say that these two books are bright and exciting and would make a great addition to any bookshelf.

Cleo by Lucy Coats is published by Orchard Books – May 2015

The Silver Handled Knife by Frances Thomas is published by Silverwood Books – 1 Sept 2015

Review by Dawn Finch

www.dawnfinch.com

@dawnafinch

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The Pebble in My Pocket by Meredith Hooper reviewed by Julia Jones

The Pebble in my Pocket was a bookseller recommendation and one of my most successful presents this year. I gave it to my five year old grandson who’s not yet a great reader but has a real interest in the natural world and a fabulous memory for facts.  

The Pebble in my Pocket begins with the most insignificant object; round and smooth and brown, an ordinary pebble. You might be irritated if you found one in your boot, you might pick up a handful and chuck them in a pond, just to hear the spatter. Would you ever look at it and think I’m holding something that is millions of years old: something that could have been on top of mountains and under the sea, covered with ice and stamped on by mammoths? Here’s something that was thrown up from the deep inside the earth, formed in unimaginable heat. This pebble is older than the oldest fossils; three times as old as the oldest dinosaurs. This pebble has a story and its story is the story of our earth. 

Never mind the grandchildren, for people like me who get in a muddle with the number of noughts in the millions and are hopelessly uncertain about the correct ordering of their Silurians and Devonians, the layout of this book is the first of its blessings. Each double page spread takes the story gently forward from a volcanic eruption 480 million years ago to a newly built house today. It’s never boring. Great fun to read aloud and with a real sense of story and occasionally drama.“Under the volcano, melted rock shifts like thick treacle […] The ground shakes. Gas hisses […] Columns of purple ash shoot into the sky.”

Big geological events – an eruption, flooding, an ice age, another ice age – are interspersed with small individual happenings. Once each particular pebble has been formed it’s subject to apparently random events. It may be swept down a river, trodden on by diplodocus, chucked at a rat by Neanderthal boy.

“Every pebble in the world is different from every other pebble. Every pebble has its own story. Pick up a pebble and you are holding a little piece of the history of our planet.”

You could see it as emblematic or simply awe-inspiring. My grandchildren responded in various practical ways. First, naturally, they hurried out of doors to collect pebbles of their own, compare them and wonder at them. Then they pestered their mother to make a volcano with vinegar, sodium bicarbonate and orange food colouring. After which they drew and painted and talked about their pebbles and the next time they were playing on their native Welsh beach they felt a real, knowledgeable thrill at the sight of pudding-stone rock.

I bought another copy immediately with the honest intention of passing it to the other grandchild family but I realise I’m not going to be able to let it go. And now I discover that the same author-illustrator team has previously told the story of water in The Drop in my Drink. It's on order.

The Pebble in my Pocket: a History of our Earth

By Meredith Hooper (illustrated by Chris Coady)

Frances Lincoln Children’s Books (1996)

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13 HOURS – by Narinder Dhami

Reviewed by Jackie Marchant

Anni is a twelve year old carer.  After spending every day at school worrying, she rushes home, desperate to be there for her mother, who will go frantic if Anni is more than a second late.  As well as debilitating injuries following an old accident and a terror of going beyond the dilapidated front door, Anni’s mother is convinced that every sound she hears comes from intruders who are out to get her.  It is Anni’s job to scour the big old tumbledown house to convince her mother that no one is there.

But one day there is . . .

Four people in balaclavas have broken in.  It’s obvious they haven’t come to steal – there is nothing worth stealing in the house – they are on a mission.  Anni soon realises that their mission has something to do with the fact that the Prime Minister will be driven right by the house in thirteen hours’ time.  That means the intruders have thirteen hours to prepare and the last thing they want is a terrified mother and her twelve year old daughter in the house they’d assumed was deserted. 

As the thirteen hours unravel, so does Anni’s life – the intruders aren’t what they seem, her mother has secrets and hidden depths she didn’t know about, Anni finds strength she didn’t know she had and she also begins to question her way of life.

The young carer/mother situation is beautifully handled.  There is a real conflict between sheer frustration at how a mother could expect so much from her child, Anni’s desperate willingness to keep things as they are or lose her mother, her mother’s guilt – and finally, the real reason behind it all, which also neatly ties in with what the intruders are doing.  Very clever.

As you can imagine, by the title and the plotline, this is very much a page-turner.  But there are real issues here as well – the motives of the intruders, the issue of young carers and the devastating consequences agoraphobia.

  

There are notes at the back of the book about agoraphobia and information for young carers – many of whom, as comes across in the book, don’t realise that is what they are.

Definitely worth a read.

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I AM DAVID by Anne Holm (transalted from the Danish by L.W.Kingsland): Review by Pauline Francis

I’ve been flirting with lots of fun end-of-summer books to use for this review, but as the constant images of mass migrations caught and held my attention, I was desperate to re-read this wonderful and compassionate modern classic, which has been one of my favourite children’s books for years – and one of the novels that made me want to become a writer.

Although this novel was first published in England in translation, in 1965, it has never been out of print and is widely used by Years 6 & 7 in schools.

I am David tells the fictitious story of a young boy, aged nine or ten, who escapes from a concentration camp somewhere in Eastern Europe to find his way back to his family in Denmark. He travels alone, with a bundle of possessions: a pocket knife, a compass, a bottle of water, a large loaf of bread and a box of matches.

Having known no other life but the camp, David knows nothing of the world outside its wire fence. He must learn about good and evil. He must learn about trust. David’s instinct for survival so far has provided him with one rule he must always obey if he’s to survive: he must not think. “Don’t think, don’t think! David clenched his hands, gripping a tuft of grass. He mustn’t think at all, for if he did, there was only one thing to think about – that he would not be able to run any further.”

As in the camp, he can look and listen, and use that information to help him; but those thoughts must go no further. David sticks to this rule throughout his journey, which I think has a devastating effect on the reader. I almost know this story by heart, but I still think for David, and warn him of the possible dangers. Such is the power of this little book (182 pages)!

David sneaks into the back of a van, hides in the hold of ship sailing to Italy, walks, runs and climbs – and even lives with family for some time; but all the time he’s afraid of being captured again, fearing that they will force him back to the camp.

How many times have we seen this played out on our various screens these last weeks?

For me, the most heart-breaking fact in the novel is that David doesn’t know how to smile. This worries the mother of the family who takes him in – she doesn’t want her innocent children to be corrupted by the evil he must have experienced. After over-hearing this, David finds an old mirror and practices smiling, although he isn’t very good at it. He can’t smile with his eyes. When he leaves, he writes a poignant farewell letter to the mother to tell her that children must be taught about good and evil if they’re to find their way through life.

David’s experiences have made him wise beyond his years!

I have no political agenda here; but if you don’t know this little gem, please read it if you can. I guarantee that, whatever your view, you will never regret looking into the heart of one child refugee: David.

Pauline Francis www.paulinefrancis.co.uk

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MOUSE IN THE HOUSE by Gillian McClure reviewed by Adèle Geras

I was lucky enough to see MOUSE IN THE HOUSE 
ahead of its publication  this month,  and it's a perfect
 example of the kind of book which gets overlooked very
 often in review roundups and the like.

It's exactly what very, very young children need. You 
can't start reading books of this kind to a baby too early.
 It's true that at first,  (maybe  at six months or so) the
subtlety and real meaning of the story will be lost on the
infant, but what the child will pick up on is the rhythm
 of the reader's voice, their encircling arms, and the parade
of lovely colours as the pages are turned. Parents ought to be
encouraged to read to children practically from birth, so that this pleasure is absorbed as one of the Good Things, like milk
 and food.

This  book is perfect for such early reading. McClure 
has used her own grandchild's cuddly mouse toy as
an inspiration. She's located the story in his house, which
 has a squirrel in a tree outside, just like the squirrel in
the story. Not every child has a writer/illustrator as
a granny, but parents and grandparents everywhere will
seize on this delightful tale and make it part of their
  repertoire.

The story explores all the senses. The bird on the tree
 sees the mouse. The squirrel hears the mouse. The dog
 smells the mouse and the cat touches the mouse. The
baby, of course, simply loves the mouse. It's  very simple
 and effective. The pictures are pastel crayon, I think,
 that gives the book a wonderfully intimate feel.
 The colours and lines of the pictures are perfect:
 bright but not garish: ever so slightly blurry.
I particularly like the 'mouse' endpapers.
It's a very welcoming story and  would make a wonderful
 present to take as a present for new parents.

It's published by:
Plaister Press Ltd
9 Trafalgar Street,
Cambridge
CB4 1T
 www.plaisterpress.com

ISBN 978-09565108-6-0

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ALL MINE! by Zehra Hicks, reviewed by Pippa Goodhart

  

Having recently had a Cornish holiday during which large eager seagulls were very keen to share our lunch pasties, bright bold picture book ‘All Mine!’ caught my eye. 

I think this is a wonderful book.  The story is short and simple, but the pictures fizz with characterful energy, movement and humour. 

Mouse is about to tuck into his sandwich lunch when – woosh! – the greedy seagull swoops down to steal it and claim that it’s ‘All mine!’  Seagull gets ticked off by mouse who tells him that it’s rude to snatch.  We then get a wonderful comic- strip episode of the mouse trying to find more lunch, but stalked by the ‘gull who steals it all, even when he’s clearly told that if only he was polite Mouse would share with him.  Seagull doesn’t learn from being told.  It’s only a good scare that finally sees him off … leaving Mouse to share his huge cake with his politer, mousey, friends.

This is a story about learning to share; something very pertinent to young children, but served-up in a way that is anything but preachy.  They will recognise the truths in the story, and come to their own conclusions about any rights and wrongs it shows.

So, this is a fun picture book for all, particularly for summertime.  But it also offers an opportunity for teachers or parents to discuss issues of sharing and bullying with children, and demonstrates interesting and easily doable ways to combine media to make your own pictures.  I now want to get some thick poster paint to ‘ice’ a photograph of a cake, and sprinkle hundreds and thousands to stick into that paint icing!  Maybe make my own simple shape-on-a-stick fox mask too?  Come to think of it, I could see this making a relatively simple, funny and telling little play for any primary school class tasked with putting on an assembly soon after the summer holidays.

Pippa Goodhart

www.pippagoodhart.co.uk                                        

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WHEN A WRITER ISN'T WRITING by JENNY ALEXANDER: Review by Penny Dolan

Jenny Alexander’s first book about the creative life and writing was Writing In The House of Dreams, and you’ll find an interesting analysis of that title here, on Susan Price's Nennius Blog.  First of all, before we begin, I am a real fan of books that are a pleasure to hold and read. Both Jenny Alexander’s books have beautiful covers, as well spaced text and font and  a visual appeal that gives you confidence in the contents. To my mind, this attention shows that the author cares as much (or more) about the experience of her readers as about the matter of “getting the book buzzing out there”: a reflection, I believe, of Jenny’s own writing values.  

  

Jenny's second book - almost a companion title - has a rather different focus: “When A Writer Isn’t Writing” makes clear its intentions in the strapline: How to Beat Your Blocks, Be Published and Find Your Flow.

 This small volume offers an unusual and personal approach. While there are many books offering weighty information on the craft of writing or the production of blockbusters and “brands”, this book focuses on the inner processes of writing and the problems that arise when the writer and their writing practice aren't quite in balance. In addition, throughout the book, Jenny offers a range of helpful writing or practical activities from her popular creative writing workshops and courses.

Jenny writes in such an easy, friendly and re-assuring style that it’s tempting, if you are a galumphing reader like me, to speed through the pages. I’d advise reading this book with a pencil in hand, underlining sentences that resonate, and suggestions that require deeper pondering. My personal copy now has several such passages. Jenny's chapters and advice are reinforced by the thoughts of established writers such as Linda Newbery, Adele Geras, Michelle Lovric and more.

The book has a straightforward structure: the first four chapters cover topics such as When You Can’t Get Started, When You Can’t Keep Going and When You Get Completely Stuck. Jenny addresses these topics in a sympathetic, instructive and thoughtful way. She suggests ways of developing confidence through regular writing practice, examines the different fears that hold back the blocked writer and considers the relationships between writing goals and personal values. 

 Jenny Alexander is a great advocate of patience with the ebbs and flows of one’s writing energies - the seasons of inspiration, productivity and also the fallow time. As she explains, “Creativity is a natural process, a breathing in and out, a rhythm of receptive and productive time, of surrender and control.”

The next three chapters look at insistent insecurities about the work itself, the blocks that sometimes halt work while it's in progress:  When you’re Putting Off Redrafting stresses the need to be patient with the process and pattern of writing; When You’re Tempted to Skip Micro-Editing encourages the reader to pay the right level of attention to their detail of their work – i.e. don’t skip! - while When You’re Pondering Publication is a firm, level-headed section on the current state of publishing, including the pitfalls and the benefits of independent publishing.

The final section - When you Find Your Flow – looks at the balance between the personal and the craft, and at what is required to work resiliently as a writer.  I feel this book may be especially useful to anyone unable to find a local writer’s group or attend a creative writing course, as there are suggestions of websites, blogs and useful books for writers. 

The book is based on Jenny’s own extensive studies in psychology . psychotherapy and creative work, and as she says “Writing isn’t just about words on the page – it’s a different way of being. It changes your experience of the world and it deepens your experience of yourself.”  If you can relate to those words, and you're in difficulties, When A Writer Isn’t Writing may be for you. 

Jenny Alexander's blog can be found here.

 

Reviewer: Penny Dolan

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THE SHIVER STONE by Sharon Tregenza. Reviewed by Saviour Pirotta

Title: THE SHIVER STONE
Author: Sharon Tregenza
Publisher: Firefly Press
Publication date:
Paperpack

I was seduced into buying Sharon Tregenza's The Shiver Stone by its bold blue cover. I'm a sucker for beach scenes on book covers. They remind of my own childhood visits to the sea, and of my favourite Enid Blyton adventures, especially The Secret Island and Five on a Treasure Island.

The Shiver Stone has the same breathless, exciting pacing as Blyton's best. But whereas Blyton's characters tend to be smug and middle-class, here is a cast that reads true to modern life and that young 21st century readers will empathise with.

Set in a fictional Welsh coast town, the story is part mystery, part social comment. Carys is furious with her mum and dad who have split up, with mum jetting off abroad to help patients with HIV and Dad falling in love with a new woman. When she tries to uncover the identity of an artist who is creating secret beach art, Carys sets off a chain of events that not only leads to a humdinger of an adventure but also to big time changes for all the members of the family. And an adorable dog!

Tregenza has an easy, punchy writing style that makes this book a perfect read summer or winter. Grab a copy!

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The Big Lie by Julie Mayhew reviewed by Rhian Ivory

 

 

The Big Lie by Julie Mayhew

Synopsis

“I am a good girl. It is my most defining feature. And that’s the truth.”

What if the Nazis had won WWII? What if one girl could win it back? If only for herself…

Buckinghamshire 2014. Jessika Keller is one of the Third Reich’s shining lights. She is an exemplary member of the Bund Deutscher Mädel, a future figure skating champion and the apple of her father’s eye. But when her neighbour and lifelong friend Clementine challenges the regime, Jessika begins to understand the frightening reality of the society in which she lives.

The Big Lie is an alt-history thriller which asks readers to examine their own attitudes to feminism, sexuality and revolution.

 

Review

One of the central themes in The Big Lie is of course the concept of lying and the lies we all tell, big and small, black or white. Mayhew repeatedly plays with the notion of lying by drawing characters who ‘leave out something that they didn’t realise was really very crucial to everyone else. That isn’t a lie. But it can be as bad as telling a lie.’

The protagonist Jessika Keller is a good girl who is driven by a desperate desire to please. Jess feels a huge responsibility to please her father and the patriarchy that dominates her world. When Jess’s feelings for her female friends start to change she knows this is something that must be kept from her father, she tries to reassure herself that this isn’t a lie, it is just leaving out something.

‘A very small victory. I knew something he didn’t.’

And these feelings are universal to all readers and ones we can identify with, that sensation of power, of knowledge and having secrets from your parents. Even though she has secrets Jess tries very hard to be outwardly normal, obeying the rules and making sure that those around her do the same, no matter what the cost to her friendship with Clementine.

‘Then Clementine said: ‘It’s hard for you…But at least I know what I am.’

Although Jess is living in what most readers would view as a nightmare scenario, to her it is normal life. Maintaining a sense of normality, being the very model of a perfect girl drives Jess on even when she knows that the biggest lie of all is the one she’s telling herself.

‘I had proved that I was normal, and special…I mustn’t let people get close to me. Only bad came of it.’

And there is no room in Jess’s life for questions about sexuality, feelings and desires because that’s not what she’s there for, her purpose and role have been clearly defined since birth. Jess knows how a good girl should think and speak and act because she’s been told so by the people in charge, the men who run The Bund Deutscher Mädel the organization set up to recruit teenage girls to adore and obey Hitler. Jess and the other recruits are shaped and molded into the future baby makers of Nazi Germany. Because of her upbringing Jess knows exactly the path she should take but when her best friend Clementine starts steering her off course Jess finds herself questioning not just her desires but her whole world.

Is it possible that everything she knows has been built on one big lie? Clementine’s revolution pushes Jess into a dark corner and the only way out is to accept that she can’t trust anyone’s truth because ultimately everyone lies.

‘In stronger moments, when I can be honest with myself, I know it can’t be true.’

This deeply intelligent and gripping novel poses one of the biggest and most frightening 'What If?' questions ever and examines through a microscopic lens feminism, sexuality and gender using the power of fiction to hold a mirror up to our own society. Mayhew sensitively analyses everything that determines who we are, our place in the world and allows the reader to consider what lies in the spaces between the past, the present and the future.

‘The moral was always implied and understood. It lived there in the Zwischenraum – that space between.’

 

 

About the author

Julie is an actress turned writer who still acts but mostly writes. 

She is an alumna of the Arvon/Jerwood Mentoring Scheme where she was tutored by Maria McCann.

Julie’s debut novel, Red Ink, was published by Hot Key Books in 2013, and was nominated for the 2014 CILIP Carnegie Medal and shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award 2014. Her second YA/Adult Crossover title, The Big Lie, will be published in August 2015.For radio, Julie has written three plays, including A Shoebox Of Snow which was nominated for Best Drama at the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2012 and shortlisted for the Nick Darke Award 2010 as a work in progress.

Julie is currently attached to Headlong theatre company as part of their first, invitational Writers’ Group.

 

About the reviewer

Rhian was born in Swansea but hasn't stayed put anywhere for very long. She trained as a Drama and English teacher and wrote her first novel during her first few years in teaching.

She got her first publishing deal at 26 and went on to write three more novels for Bloomsbury.
The Boy who drew the Future is her fifth novel and she’s recently finished writing her sixth.  

 She is a National Trust writer in residence, a WoMentoring mentor and a Patron of Reading.

You can follow Rhian on Twitter and on Facebook.

 

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